OT - Breakin' Up Is Hard to Do

Whistle
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Tonight we had our last jam session before my move to Texas (the day after Christmas). In addition to several musicians that I’ve known for up to 31 years, there were other friends going back as far as 1968. We’ve been here in the Monterey area for over 22 years continuously this time–ever since I retired from the Army, and even after my wife’s stroke pretty much immobilized me over six years back, these were the folks who still came to visit and to pick and sing a little–almost every week.

We had a potluck supper. Lots more food was brought than was eaten. We talked while we ate, then started the music. This close to Christmas, several musician friends couldn’t make it, but we had mandolin, banjo, and two guitars.

We played our favorite fiddle tunes and sang our favorite Bluegrass and Old-timey songs, and I even got out my Busman Delrin to play “Fireball Mail” with the banjo player, a very jazzy “Summertime” with the other flatpicker, and a couple of Chinese tunes for our Cantonese friend.

Finally folks had to start heading for home (the oldest was in his mid-80s, and he gave out first). The musicians stuck it out the longest, but eventually they had to go, too. By 11:30, they were all gone. Chances are good that I’ll never see any of them again.

I’m glad that I managed to keep the tears back until after the last car had pulled away–but they’re free to flow now… :cry:

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Beautiful sentiments, beautifully expressed. Thanks Mike.

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Good luck for your new life in Texas. I hope you will find new friends and new musicians there soon! All the best,

  • claudine -
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Texas!! Does that mean you’re gonna have to learn to play country western on the whistle?
Hang in there-- you’ll meet new people. Good luck on the move.

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Ah, what a sad and joyous occasion, take the spirit of that friendship with you to Texas, it will find others to start anew.

All the best on the move.

MarkB

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All I’ve got to offer is a favorite quote of mine:

“A person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens.”

Good luck in Texas!!

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You never really leave a place you love.
Part of it you take with you,
leaving a part of yourself behind.


I don’t know who said that.



Best wishes for a smooth journey and joy in your new home!

:slight_smile: Sara

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Good luck on the move to Texas. I know how you feel. We have many friends here that have retired and moved back home to Utah. Many of them have lived here for 30 years, raised their children here and made tons of friends here but they feel compelled to move “home”. Ocassionally they come back for a visit but some we have not seen since they left. I can’t say much because I live back home also. Cherish memories and make new friends and music. I would have liked to have heard the cannonball mail duet.

Ron

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Somehow I missed that you were moving, Darwin. I’m sorry to hear that you’re leaving the Central Coast…but I hope you’ll be happy in Texas!

Redwolf

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I can sympathize with you, I moved from Minnesota to Florida 5 years ago. I left behind a huge family of musical friends which, excepting a couple of pipers, I have yet to really build up here. It was hard, and it still is, but in time I got used to it. And the prospect of new sights, sounds and experiences has been able to keep me distracted. I feel this will be the same case for you.

All the best to you on your journey, and remember, you can always visit when missing ‘home’ gets a little tough to bear.

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Thanks to everyone for the good wishes and encouragement.

It’s true. For the first 40 years of my life, I moved around a lot, first growing up in oil camps and small towns, then college away from home, then the Army. Here are the places I’ve lived (two years lost due to rounding off to the nearest half year):

Raccoon Bend, TX --1 year
New Iberia, LA – 4 years
Everglades City, FL – 1 year
Eucutta, MS – 2 years
Kelsey-Bass, TX – 1 year
Houston, TX – 1 year
Monroe City, TX – 4 years
Vernon, TX – 1 year
Houston, TX / Georgetown, TX – 3 years (college)
Ft. Leonard Wood, MO / Monterey, CA – 1.5 years (Army)
Petaluma, CA – 0.5 year
Shulinkou, Taiwan – 1.5 years
Ft. Hood, TX – 1 year
Monterey, CA – 1 year
Narimasu, Japan – 5 years
Monterey, CA – 1 year
Ft. Bragg, NC – 3 years
Zama, Japan - 2.5 years
Monterey, CA – 1 year
Ft. Lewis, WA – 2 years
Marina, CA – 18.5 years (retired from the Army)
Salinas, CA – 3.5 years

That’s 21 different places by the age of 40. Before I retired, the longest I’d ever lived in one place was the 5 years during my first tour in Japan. Since that time, I’ve been here in Monterey County.

I’ve always looked forward to moving, and found it stimulating. I think that this move will be, too. The hard part will be getting out to meet new people who play Bluegrass, and tempting them out to my place. Since I seldom get out of the house, the real loss is the contact with reliable old friends who have come out to play.

Fortunately, I do have several old college friends living in the Dallas area, and the Southwest Bluegrass Club has its headquarters in Grapevine, which isn’t too far from Lantana, so I’m sure I’ll get something going eventually. Also, I hope to get out and see some of the local sessioneers in action, though I don’t expect to participate. With a second son living just 10 minutes away, the chances of getting the occasional evening off should increase. It’s a bit of a wrench, but it won’t really slow me down much. However, I’m glad my granddaughter has found a way to stay here and graduate with her class next June. She’ll be stimulated enough by going off to college next year.

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Mike, I wish the best for you as you have for me. If I know of you like I think I do it will not take you long to fit right in. I hope this will also be a good thing for your wife to be near family as well.

Nathan (our 11 year old son) and I shared a tear or more in the hallway after everything was all loaded in the truck. It was all his fault, but it felt great to get that part of the move out of the way. Better than doing it while driving down a curvy road or the freeway.

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Thanks, Stephen. I agree. It will give her some much-needed variety (even beyond Mr. Ed and Herman Munster).

I posted a picture of the younger granddaughter in the Cutie Pie thread today, by the way.

Nathan (our 11 year old son) and I shared a tear or more in the hallway after everything was all loaded in the truck. It was all his fault,

Darned kids!!! :stuck_out_tongue:

but it felt great to get that part of the move out of the way. Better than doing it while driving down a curvy road or the freeway.

:laughing: That’s sort of how I felt about it last night. It helped drain all the little tensions that had been accumulating below the surface, too.

I spoke to my sister-in-law, in Houston, today, and she said that she bawled like a baby driving away from her house of 27 years after selling it.

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That would be interesting! :astonished:

Still, though, you might want to set your radio dial to a few good Conjunto stations and learn a few of those tunes. Many of them are quite playable on the whistle.

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you brought tears to my eyes too, Darwin. I pray that you have a safe trip to your new home!

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Hey Mike..I don’t really keep up on the OT threads much, so I missed that you were moving to about 20 minutes away from me. If you want to know about the local sessions when you get to town, feel free to drop me a line!

The session that is on Tuesday’s unfortunately is looking for a new home (our pub closed), but I think there’s still a Friday open session..I’ll ask around.

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Thanks, Greg. We arrived last night, though it will probably be a while before things settle down. We’ll be staying with my younger son in Flower Mound for two or three weeks, and I’ll probably wait till my other son arrives with my van before trying to get out.

I’m hoping that the elder will get a job that doesn’t involve working till 10:00 pm, like the last two, so that I can do some running around, myself.

I appreciate the offer, and I’ll definitely take you up on it–eventually.

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Just let me know! I’m in Lewisville, 2 blocks away from the Flower Mound border on 3040, so we’re practically neighbors :wink: